Reputation surveys in the US News rankings
Turns out that only about 646 academics, lawyers and judges determine 40% of each law school’s rank in US News (the reputation portion). And only about 120 of those are actual lawyers. Just to repeat: that means that 40% of a school’s rank is determined by just a handful of lawyers and...

Interview with Brian Leiter, law school rankings maven
I won’t hesitate to give you the most important take-away from this interview:
Anyone who thinks that “top 14” demarcates a relevant category of law schools has already made a mistake!
... but it’s worth reading the rest of the interview as well.
Brian Leiter is a professor...

Are lower ranked schools more innovative than their higher ranked peers?
It seems so, according to this observer. One of his important points that bears repeating over and over again: The rankings measure nothing remotely related to innovative or creative legal education methods. Please keep that in mind as you compile your lists of schools to which you apply.

Gaming the rankings
Every year, law school applicants spend an inordinate amount of time obsessing about US News & World Report’s law school rankings. The Pre-Law website discusses generally why you shouldn’t care about the rankings. This summer, the New York Times published an article giving a new set of...